Pictured: Katie Teasdale
Business leaders are urging the Bank of England to keep interest
rates at 0.5 per cent as the number of companies taking advantage
of low interest rates to increase exports is soaring.
The Bank of England's Monetary Policy Committee is due to
announce its decision on rates on Thursday.
The Documentation Department at Birmingham Chamber of Commerce
Group says that the number of export documents processed for the
first six months of this financial year is 14 per cent up on the
same period last year and six per cent up on the second half of
last year.
Katie Teasdale, head of policy, said: "While the increase in
documents processed is slowing, there is still a trend upwards. Any
rise in interest rates would damage sterling's competitiveness
abroad making our exports less competitive.
"The anticipated injection of £50 billion into the economy
through the quantitative easing programme, which will raise the
total amount of new money to £175 billion, should provide
businesses with more money to invest in new markets.
"Many of the causes for the current high levels of inflation are
global and the Eurozone crisis doesn't encourage exports. However,
99 per cent of the documents we process at the Chamber are outside
the European community. So companies are taking advantage of the
relatively strong Asian markets, such as China."